Old Marks
by rightlane
Summary: They've been attacked before, but didn't suffer any damage because someone else took the hit for them. Ash and Serena are a year older now, and realise that they've protected each other for so long, but still don't know that each have scars for the other.


**Old Marks**

Her finger circled on my left shoulder blade. "Where'd this come from, Ash?", Serena curiously questioned with a slight grimace in her eyes.

She placed her small hand on the scar that laid on his arm. It looked rough, jagged even; he wore a larger shirt to conceal the much larger marks on his entire back and shoulder. It was a painful reminder of an even more painful victory. He'd forgotten about it while sitting next to the fire with her, and gulped as he realised he needed to explain it sooner than later. Serena was one to worry, and he wanted to make light of the situation to not upset her.

"It… it came from Lysandre's Mega Gyarados. I nearly won against him with Pikachu and Greninja and the others, but after I thought I'd won, he ordered Gyarados to use a final Crunch on you. You were knocked out cold, and I rushed over to cover you. And then I…" His speech was cut short as she sniffed loudly and put a small hand over her mouth. "Serena… are you crying? It's okay, don't worry, I'm fine…"

"It's… it's just that I hate to see you get hurt like this! My heart gets broken every time something bad happens to you. Y-you know that I care for you, right?" She grabbed me and pulled me in for a tight hug, but gasped as she felt the massive bumpy scar that I hid. "Is that from the same attack?"

"Yeah… but don't worry, it's fine! I feel much better, doesn't hurt a bit, actually!" But his words weren't enough to comfort her.

"Show me." she shakingly ordered. "Please."

He hesitated, knowing that he himself hated the sheer contrast the scar gave when compared to the rest of his body. "It's not for the faint of heart, Serena…"

"A-Ash. I… I want you to know that I love you. I don't want to see you get hurt, so please just show me, so I can at least know what you did for me. Please."

Her words shocked him, as that was the first time anymore other than his mom told him "I love you". He didn't know what else to say, and so began to move her arms away from him. He turned around, and took off his jacket. "You don't have to do this, you know…"

"Please. I… I have to know."

He took off his shirt, and heard her gasp with shaking breaths. He turned around, and saw that she was crying again. He put his shirt back on, and rushed forward to hug her. "Hey, hey, hey, it's okay… I'm fine, remember? That Lysandre can't hurt us anymore, okay?"

"It's… it's just that I-I-I can't stand to see you get hurt like that!"

"Hey, don't worry about me! You know that I've got more lives than anyone can count. That, and my completely ahmazin' Pokemon are there to help me!", he joked.

She slightly laughed at that joke, but just the tiniest laugh. She started to grip him a bit tighter. He could feel her heart beating fast.

"You know… we have something else in common. I also have a scar too. From helping you." She released her grip on Ash, and started to tug at her collar. Ash started to blush and cover his eyes. "Hey! It's not there, dummy!"

"I'm sorry! But… what happened?"

She revealed a long, brownish-red line that traversed from the back of her neck to her right shoulder to her sternum. "It came from that time when we were stopping Malamar from shooting a laser to change the world. Remember? It was after they went into space, and said they'd be back? You had fallen asleep from their Confuse Ray, and one of them used Psycho Cut on you. I jumped and covered you, but it was so strong that when it hit, I spun. That's how the scar's that long along my body."

He gently stroked the scar, prompting a huge blush from Serena. "Does it still hurt?"

"Sometimes. It comes and goes, but it's mostly okay."

"Hey… why are you blushing?"

"OH! Oh… uhm… well... You see… when I said that I loved you… well… I really meant it."

"What do you mean?"

"HEY YOU TWO! C'MON, WE"RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR DINNER! Wait… Serena? Ash? Why are both of you touching each other?" Bonnie bounded out of nowhere and yelled.

"IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK IT IS!" both Serena and Ash yelled, with large crimson blushes on their faces.

"I KNEW IT! YOU TWO ARE SO CUTE! CLEMONT! YOU NEED TO GET A WIFE! ! ASH AND SERENA ARE TOGETHERRRRRRRRR!"


End file.
